This invention relates to modular shelves which can be stacked above an umbrella table surface and stacked one above another, all encircling an umbrella table pole.
Umbrella tables are now common. They are regularly used on private verandas and back yards and are used in sidewalk cafes and other public places. In all cases additional useful space added to the umbrella table will enhance the use of the umbrella table.
Devices have been proposed which partially answer this opportunity. The device proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,256 by Intardonato is a compartmented rotatable tray which can rest upon the umbrella table surface. This tray is made of two parts which mate to encircle the pole. The device proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,023 by Hammond is also a compartmented rotatable tray which can rest upon the surface of the umbrella table surface. Here the tray has a removable section which allows the tray to encircle the pole. These two trays do make the available space more useful because of the compartments and rotatability, but they do not add new space. Also, in both cases the parts are not designed to minimize the number of different parts in order to increase the ease of manufacture and commercial appeal.
The specification of a rotatable tray proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,803 by O'Brien and O'Brien discloses a clamp for holding the rotatable tray onto the pole above the umbrella table surface. This specification also mentions a "pipe" for holding the rotatable tray above the umbrella table surface and for holding one rotatable tray above another rotatable tray but does not disclose how a "pipe" relates to two rotatable trays. The means required to make this tray rotatable, the stacking elements required to match the rotation means, and the means for easily attaching and detaching all these rotatable tray parts to the umbrella table would not be easy to manufacture at a price which has commercial appeal.
The device proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,257,107 by Patterson clamps plates to a tent pole to make a gun rack encircling the pole. This rack is clamped, braced, and rigged to accommodate rifles and does not answer the opportunities addressed here. The holder of detachable trays proposed in U.S. Pat. 3,194,403 by Van Horn is also clamped on a pole which could be an umbrella pole. The clamps disclosed by Van Horn when adapted to fit all umbrella table poles, to sustain likely loads, and for ease of use would entail manufacturing costs which would greatly reduce commercial appeal.
Thus, there are opportunities for new ways to add useful space to umbrella tables, using elements which are devised for ease of use, ease of manufacture, and commercial appeal.